


My Life’s Work

by protect_rosie



Series: gifts/exchanges/challenges [11]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alex still plays hockey, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Nicky is a tattoo artist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-10 08:38:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12295452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/protect_rosie/pseuds/protect_rosie
Summary: Alex comes in on a Tuesday night, a couple of hours before closing time.





	My Life’s Work

**Author's Note:**

  * For [leyley09](https://archiveofourown.org/users/leyley09/gifts).



> for leyley09!
> 
> u had so many wonderful prompts i honestly had trouble deciding which one to write. that video of nicky tattooing that guy was just fantastic and i love it so much.
> 
> title from _creatures_ by motionless in white
> 
> enjoy!

Night falls just like it always does; quick and unforgiving.

Nicky doesn’t often close up shop by himself, but everyone had previous compromises for which they left earlier than normal. He doesn’t mind, really. It’s nice to put everything away, make sure everything is locked away like it should be, in silence. Sometimes it’s nice to have the quiet so he can hear himself think. Not that he has anything major to think about anyway; everything is going much better than he’d expected, not that he’s complaining.

He takes one last look at the place - no ink or needles in sight - before he turns around and exits out the front door. 

The cool air hits him like a swift punch to the face, and Nicky wishes he would’ve listened to Philipp and his warnings about the temperature dropping at night. It doesn’t matter now anyway, his car is only a few footsteps from the door. 

Once he’s in the safety of his car, he turns the heat up full blast, and hopes his car will warm up before he gets home. 

It never happens, but Nicky’s always hopeful it will.

  
  


\\\\\///

  
  


_ “That kid Andre is in the back waiting room asking for work again,” _ Mojo says as soon as Nicky walks in the door the next morning, doesn’t even allow Nicky to take his coat off first.

He doesn’t look up from his computer at the front desk, rarely ever does, too busy setting up appointments, and planning everyone’s schedule for the week. He opens his mouth to say more, but just then, the phone rings, and Mojo swivels around to answer it. 

Nicky sticks around, he’s not really in the mood to deal with anyone but Mojo today; the more he sticks by the front desk, the less he has to deal with others. Nicky watches him scrunch his eyebrows together, and then quickly swivel himself around again. He types quickly, just saying  _ uh huh  _ and  _ ok,  _ before hanging up and smiling wide at Nicky.

_ “We got him, baby,” _ he says excitedly.  _ “We finally got him.” _

Nicky’s confused now; he didn’t know they were actively pursuing clients that they didn’t already have. 

_ “Who did we get?”  _ Nicky asks.

_ “The face of the franchise, the greatest of all eights.” _

Nicky just shakes his head, approvingly. 

_ “Nice job, dinner’s on me tonight,”  _ he says, and walks away, leaving Mojo to have his own little celebratory moment.

 

\\\\\///

 

A couple of weeks go by before anyone mentions their star new client.

It’s a slow day, so they’re not doing much, just hanging around and typing away at their phones; the kid Andre is still in the back, looking for work. Might as well talk to the kid, it can’t hurt.

“Andre, right?” Nicky asks, he nods and gets up. He tries to talk but Nicky interrupts him and says, “follow me.”

Nicky doesn’t wait for an answer before he turns his back and walks to his office. 

“Alright, so what do you have to offer, Andre?” Nicky asks him, he takes a seat and crosses his arms.

Andre takes a deep breath and says, “Well, I specialize in social media. I manage a company’s social media accounts, and am in charge of getting them out there, not that your business needs that, but, it helps bring in tons more clients which I think will be beneficial.”

Nicky thinks about it, things have been a little slow lately, not that he minds it too much, but if the place keeps going like this, he’s going to have to close down, quick.

It’s silent, so Andre takes that as an opportunity to speak up again.

“Plus, uh, plus I am great behind the camera so when Alex Ovechkin comes I can film it and it could be the first video on the shop’s page. It would really help grow the business.”

Nicky considers it - only good things can come from the shop having a social media page. He makes his choice right then, but feels like making Andre suffer so he swivels around and pretends to work on his computer, even makes a show of turning it on. He does nothing, though, just pretends to type on an empty word document.

It’s while before he turns back around.

“You’re hired,” Nicky says, in the most monotone voice he can manage, which Mojo tells him isn’t that hard for him. “Go up to Marcus’s desk and tell him to give you the paperwork.”

Andre’s smile almost makes up for the fact that he’s going to have to learn a new person.

 

\\\\\///

 

Alex comes in on a Tuesday night, a couple of hours before closing time. He’s dressed pretty casually, pretty laid back; just some grey sweatpants and a white graphic t-shirt, a red hat on his head. 

Nicky is on his way back into his office, so when he sees Alex, he doesn’t think much of it. It’s not until Mojo comes running into his office, that he starts reacting to the situation.

_ “He said he wanted our best man,”  _ Mojo says, looking a little more wild around the edges than usual.  _ “No offense to Philipp or Carly but, come on. You need to go out there and introduce yourself.” _

So Nicky goes.

“Hello, I’m Nicklas,” Nicky says, in his most professional voice. “Welcome.”

“Marcus, you did not tell an angel would be doing tattoo,” Alex says, which isn’t odd, but the fact that Nicky feels like he looks not at all like an angel, makes him doubt Alex’s eyesight. “I’m Alex, but you call me Sasha.”

There’s just something about Alex’s gap-toothed smile that makes something stir inside Nicky, so he smiles and nods.

“Welcome,  _ Sasha.” _

The way his eyes light up make Nicky wonder where Alex has been all his life.

 

\\\\\///

 

It doesn’t take long for them to get acquainted, Alex -  _ please call me Sasha  _ \- is very chatty, and Nicky’s just happy to listen; he’s never been much of a talker anyway. But it is quiet sometimes, not awkward, just silent. Of course it helps that Andre is there most of the time, to fill in any silent gaps.

They don’t talk about anything too serious, mostly about whatever prank a teammate pulled during the road trip or what Nicky likes to do when he’s not at the shop; Nicky has a feeling that they talk about the latter because Sasha wants to take him out to dinner. He gets the feeling because Sasha’s always asking Nicky what his favorite foods are, and where to find them. Of course, Nicky helps confirm those suspicions because he overhears Sasha talking to Mojo about taking Nicky out to dinner.

So Nicky acts surprised when Sasha finally asks him out to dinner.

“Is only thank you for being nice when I’m cancel appointments,” Sasha says, and it warms Nicky’s heart because he actually looks  _ shy.  _ Nicky tries to watch the team as much as he can, but doesn’t think he’s ever seen Sasha look  _ shy.  _ “So is yes or no?”

“It’s a yes,” Nicky says, and he smiles wide, his real smile, the one that shows off his gums a little; the one he saves for special events when he’s truly happy and enjoying himself.

 

\\\\\///

 

Nicky stops by the shop before his dinner with Sasha -  _ it’s a date, you know that right?  _ Marcus told him the day Sasha asked him out - to get Mojo’s approval on his outfit.

_ “Be honest,”  _ Nicky says, suddenly very nervous.  _ “Do you think it’s too much? I bet it’s too much, I should go home and change.” _

Mojo just laughs at him, and Nicky would tease him about all the times he’s come to Nicky asking for similar advice if Nicky himself wasn’t so nervous.

_ “It looks  _ fine,  _ you look good,”  _ Mojo replies, looking more settled now.  _ “You can’t ever go wrong with a good pair of jeans and a black shirt.” _

_ “I’m trusting you on this one, better not let me down.” _

_ “I promise I won’t.” _

Nicky just sighs and straightens himself out before walking out of the shop without looking back.

 

\\\\\///

 

Nicky waits, sitting on the top step of his front porch. It makes him feel like a teenager again - the anticipation of someone picking him up just takes him back to his first date. 

Hopefully, this  _ date  _ with Sasha will go better. He wishes he could kick Mojo’s ass for making him think about the fact that this is a  _ date, _ and not just  _ dinner;  _ Nicky would have been perfectly fine thinking of this as the latter.

When Sasha arrives, he gets out of his car and walks toward Nicky.

“You ready?” he asks, hands in his pockets.

Nicky can only help but smile when he says, “Since the day you walked in the door of my shop.”

Sasha helps him up and they hold hands all the way to his car.

 

\\\\\///

 

The problems start two weeks after his date with Sasha.

Everything in the shop seems to go the same as always, except for the calls. And the ugly flyers. And the random emails. It throws everyone off their routine, especially Mojo, since he’s the one on the receiving end of everything. He’s good about it though, just passes on the message to Nicky and goes back to his place behind the desk. 

The messages are nasty though, there’s no way they’re not getting to him, even just a little bit. 

There’s an especially ugly one that says:

_ Selling your soul to the devil won’t help you succeed; your business is going down under because in the end, all you have is greed. Sleeping with the captain won’t help you get what you need. _

It sends chills down Nicky’s spine. Who would send something like this and why would they do it? Who would go through the trouble of sending this kind of thing to them?

There’s a headache coming, Nicky can feel it at the back of his skull; it’s going to be a bad one, for sure.

That’s not the only note they get, a couple of days later they get a creepy voicemail. Nicky’s the first one in, so he’s the only one able to answer the phone.

_ “It seems like you don’t learn,”  _ the voice says, it’s definitely been modified somehow.  _ “You’re walking on glass here. Keep going at it like this, and soon you will have cuts all over your feet.” _

Nicky very nearly slams down the phone after he’s done deleting the voicemail. 

It’s getting increasingly difficult to figure out who is doing this to them and why. None of them have any people they’ve pissed off so much that they would go to the lengths whoever is doing this is. 

He probably zones out because next thing he knows, Mojo’s telling him to wake up in his annoying American accent.

_ “Got another voicemail,”  _ Nicky tells him, gets up and stretches.  _ “I don’t think it’s going to stop any time soon. I think it’s time we install some cameras outside.” _

_ “It’s what I’ve been telling you since we opened this place,”  _ Mojo says, but there’s no real heat behind it (there’s only been  _ one  _ time there’s been any real heat behind Mojo’s words to Nicky).  _ “But I’m glad you’re  _ finally  _ listening to me. I’ll get on that.” _

He kinda pushes Nicky out of the way and gets to calling.

 

\\\\\///

 

The cameras help somewhat.

They no longer get those disgusting flyers outside their door, but they do still get calls, voicemails, and emails. 

It gets to the point where Nicky considers cutting the shop’s phone service, and just setting up and outgoing email inbox. It’d probably be the best thing to stop whoever is doing this.

 

\\\\\///

 

Nicky’s last session with Sasha feels like a goodbye; they haven’t gone out since their first date (which, Nicky should stop referring to it as such because it seems that there aren’t going to be any more dates). Sasha is talkative as always, and Nicky just sits back and listens, stops his hand ever so often to answer Sasha’s questions. 

At the end, they hug, and Nicky is careful not to graze Alex’s fresh tattoo. 

“See you around,” Nicky says, after Sasha’s walked out, even though he knows perfectly well that he might not see him again, except on tv.

 

\\\\\///

 

The voicemails and calls stop.

Nicky forgets about them within a week after they do.

They don’t come back.

 

\\\\\///

 

One day, before the start of spring, Nicky comes in late. Much later than he’s used to. 

_ “There’s someone waiting for you in your office,”  _ Mojo says as soon as he comes in. Nicky’s about to ask him who, but then a call comes in, and he swivels around to answer it. 

Nicky’s half-expecting another Andre to be waiting there, asking for a job.

But.

It’s not.

It’s Sasha, arms crossed and eyes closed. 

“Thought I wouldn’t see you around here after I finished your tattoo,” Nicky says, only half jokingly. 

Sasha smiles.

“Can’t stay away from an angel like you,” he replies. He stands and walks closer to Nicky. “Came here to ask you for dinner, for actual  _ date.” _

“Oh really?”

“Really.”

They stare at each other for a long time, before Nicky finally breaks and looks away, a huge smile on his face. 

“I thought you’d never ask.”

“Never doubt me, baby.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> quick notes:  
> -nicky and mojo speak to each other in swedish which is why their dialogue is in italics  
> -i wonder if i should revisit this universe in the future?  
> -follow me on tumblr @ **grubauers**  
>  -comments and kudos are much appreciated!!!
> 
> thanks for reading!


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